Wednesday, October 20, 2010

The Leftover Diet


There's something about being away from home that makes me not care about overeating. Whether wasting away in Margaritaville, or simply hanging with the fam, I always seem to leave my willpower at home.

Same goes for this trip. Mostly my time away from home is limited to a few days, a week at the most, but this time I'll have been gone for two full weeks.

2 weeks + 2 many desserts + 2 much wine + 0 exercise = 1 Lord Have Mercy!

I can feel it already. Literally. My trunk is gaining junk each and every day with each and every Cheeto I pop in my mouth and lollipop I steal from the children. Borrow, I meant borrow from the children!

But I have decided today to implement a new type of diet geared directly toward the stay at home mother with a small herd of children:

The Leftover Diet

It's an easy diet and not lacking in variety, junk, or taste. Here's what you do:

Make your children their usual meals: Hot dogs, steak, chips, eggs, cookies, whatever. But DO NOT make yourself a meal. Nope. NOTHING.

When your children are finished eating and have left a good portion of their food behind, eat their leftovers. You're gonna do it anyway, might as well leave out the extra meal!

See how easy? It's brilliant I tell you, BRILLIANT!

If you're anything like me, finishing what's left on the kiddos plates is the best part of a meal. While we grown-ups eat salads and leftovers for lunch, the kids typically get grilled cheese sandwiches, mac-n-cheese, or hot dogs and chips. But how many kids eat everything on their plates? So what are we supposed to do?

That's right!

Eat their food for them!

With this diet, you can enjoy the "good" kids food without consuming all of those other pesky calories from a meal prepared for yourself.

For example, I went through the drive-thru today to get the kids some Chic-Fil-A. Instead of ordering a meal for me, I just waited until one, two, three half-eaten lunch bags were passed back up to me. I got my fill of french fries and nuggets without having already eaten my own french fry and nugget meal. Waste not, want not!

Another perk: You won't find yourself nagging your children to "eat two more bites". Instead you'll be saying,

"No, no, you've had enough. You're excused! NO! Do not eat one more bite! That's MY Cheeto!!!"